Arigato: Didn't say it last time
by Sage347
Summary: It was out of their way, but Naruto convinced Sakura to visit anyways. Oneshot, partial GaaraxSakura... my take on it, at least.


**Just a small snippet of my take on ...ah, this. I rather like it. I consider it worthy of actually posting. . Without further adeu, I present to you:**

**Arigato**- _I didn't say it last time._

(p.s. I love reviews)

_**-**_

"Please?" Naruto begged, clasping his hands. His vivid, clear blue eyes sparkled with his hope--

"No."

They turned a bit dull. "Sakura-chan..." He moaned, "You're mean sometimes."

"We have a deadline!" Sakura snapped, smacking his head while pouring the instant-food package's contents into the boiling pot. "I know you two are close friends, but it's going out of our way by at least six hours! Be practical for once..."

"B-but-- Sakura-chan!"

She twitched. "No, and that's my final answer!"

_**-**_

"Hello, Kazekage-sama." Sakura greeted warmly, doing her very best not to strangle Naruto ...who was babbling on about how long it had been. Really, it had only been a month...

Gaara merely nodded in her direction, showing he acknowledged her presence, before turning back to Naruto with a faint smile._ '...He's actually listening to Naruto... every damn word.' _She realized in fascination, _'Not to be rude or anything, but... Holy shit.'_

After four _more_ hours of delay, the talk came to what appeared to be a close. Restraining a sigh of relief, Sakura was about to make a move to leave, when...

They both turned their heads to her.

She blinked. "...?"

"Well?" Naruto prodded.

"Well what?" She asked, if a bit dumbly.

Naruto almost fell off of his chair. "Sakura-chan, haven't you been listening to anything I've said?!" He asked, looking hurt-- he'd bounce back in about...two minutes, at most. She didn't miss the not-so-subtle glare Gaara sent her, and kept the shudder to herself.

"Um..." She managed, thinking quickly for a lie. No ideas came, and she hung her head a bit. "Sorry...?" She offered, scratching the back of her head.

Accepting that with a beam, Naruto shrugged, snapping back to his usual self, and Gaara's glare vanished. "Gaara and I were just talking about what's changed in a month. Nothing, really, but there were some pretty funny stories. I was just saying how you should have a few."

Sakura blinked. "Well..." She grinned, "Shino lost his shades a few missions ago."

"NO WAY! Hey Gaara, you remember Shino, right? Covers himself up, really quiet, wears old-man shades? ...Well, not anymore, his new shades are kinda cool--"

And so, two more hours passed, and Sakura found she didn't really care if they had to skip sleeping or eating breaks.

...Much. She was still a bit peeved at Naruto, somewhere far away in the back of her mind. But she had to admit... even if she didn't seem to fit in as much as she could with the two of them and the distinct bond of understanding and a deep friendship, she wasn't so bad compared to some of the "guests" to their small reunions.

Occasionally, people would drift in and out of the office, and eventually when the time came that they had to leave lest they not make it no matter _what_ time-saving maneuvers they attempted, Gaara's older brother happened to walk in.

Grunting as a hello without really seeing who was there, Kankuro merely dropped a mission report onto Gaara's desk. He turned to leave when his periphial vision caught a familiar combination of shades of orange, yellow, red and pink.

Raising his eyebrow, said older brother only took a moment to swivel his gaze around and realize who it was. His somewhat relieved, if solemn, face quickly spread into a grin. "Well, look who it is!"

Sakura laughed lightly, if a bit tightly. _'Damn. Now we'll never make it...'_

"They were just leaving." Gaara cut in with his soft voice, exchanging brief glances with the three before him. A moment passed in which Kankuro frowned, ticked that just as he got there they had to go. "But we can walk them out."

The grin was instantly back in place, and subsequently, even more stories were told. Including the one how they went out of their way just to visit. Out of their way...by a lot.

A mixture of surprise, flattery, and guilt passed through the two brothers, the eldest of which who laughed nervously. "Ah...gomen." He said simply. "You didn't have to..."

"But we did!" Naruto cut in somewhat-smoothly, smiling knowingly. "Any time I pass through the desert, I stop for a visit." Shrugging, he went on, "If I get in trouble, who cares?"

A soft smile graced Sakura's face at his words.

"...It's convincing the people with me that's the trick." He added. Sakura's smile faded, and she glared at him viciously. _'Did he have to say that?!'_ She mentally demanded, not-so-subtly cracking her knuckles in a promise for later. Despite paling, Naruto ignored her.

Just as they moved to leave, Sakura's gaze was caught by a sudden step forward. Naruto paused as well, turning back with a blink. Gaara was walking forward, in the pink haired kunoichi's direction. Stopping before her, he looked back to Kankuro; a look was shared between the two brothers, a story that would not be told and that did not need to be, and he shifted his sights back to the medic-nin.

Keeping her gaze, he bowed slightly before straightening. "Arigato, Haruno-san." He said earnestly.

Eyes widening, she had only to look at Kankuro, then Gaara again, to understand what was meant. Her features softened, and she returned the gesture, keeping eye-contact just as Gaara had. Once she was upright once more, she shook her head with a smile. "You don't need to thank me." She said simply.

"It was out of your way." Gaara responded in an equally simple manner.

Quirking another smile, she said the only thing that came to mind. "Nothing is out of my way, Gaara-san."

_**-**_

For some reason, he wasn't surprised when he saw her barely a month later. She had to cross only a small snitch of the desert to get where she was going, but came anyways.

--**End **

**A/N: **

**Ah, well... this is just a little drabble I came up with. Randomly. It's not really GaaraxSakura; more, it's one of the ways I view their ...'relationship'... to be. **

**She's Naruto's teammate (and crush), and she's Tsunade's apprentice. To top that off, she **_**did **_**happen to save Kankuro's arse. It's safe to say they at least acknowledge each other, perhaps even see each other fairly often (well...as "fairly often" as you can get with being that far away). **

**So, I came up with this. Simple, kinda cute, just a small snippet that shows "Hey... they could get somewhere. Good friends, maybe a date, maybe not, but the fact remains that it is quite possible for them to know each other better". **

**There will most likely not be a sequel to this. I wrote it as a one-shot, nothing more, nothing less... I wrote it to show the very beginning of my take on their relationship, not to come up with an entire series of what would happen. If I were to continue with this, more and more, it would grow stale very quickly; quite frankly, I don't want to do that. **

**Although, just like the relationship I show here, I could go somewhere. I could write a small sequel. But I won't do it in the near future. **

**Anyways, the review button is lonely... won't you please warm it up? **


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